Courtesy of Kevin Lieue
Camel of the Edition is a new series which seeks to highlight extraordinary Connecticut College athletes who have stood out for their recent performances.
Katherine Randall ‘25 was recently named NESCAC Women’s Volleyball Player of the Week for leading the women’s volleyball team with 45 kills, 55 digs, and 10 service aces and a 5-0 record in late September. Recently, The College Voice caught up with Randall to learn more about her journey in sports, how she unexpectedly chose Conn, and the excitement of being named NESCAC player of the week.
The College Voice: Could you please introduce yourself?
Katherine Randall: I’m Katherine Randall, a junior from Chicago, Illinois. I’m majoring in Economics and minoring in Finance. On the team I’m an outside hitter and I’m the junior captain.
TCV: What was your journey in sports and how did you end up playing volleyball?
KR: I started playing travel volleyball in 6th grade. In 7th grade I played five sports. I played soccer, softball, basketball, and volleyball and I kind of was also part of the cross-country team because I would join practices for extra conditioning. I knew I was going to stick with volleyball though because I played travel and I was most serious about it but because volleyball is only a fall sport, in the spring, I decided to try lacrosse because a lot of my friends were playing it. So I played lacrosse freshman and sophomore year in addition to volleyball. But I was playing club volleyball, which is year-round, so I wouldn’t get home until 10:30. So I decided junior year it would be way too much for me, so I just stuck with volleyball because I liked it the best.
TCV: When did you realize you wanted to keep playing volleyball in college?
KR: I didn’t know I wanted to play in college until right before COVID hit in my junior year. I was sad that volleyball was going to end so I decided to reach out to schools. I randomly found Conn because one of my friends wanted to play soccer here. So I reached out to Coach Josh [Edmed] memorial day weekend, which is the very end of May, which is so late because most people have already committed by then. But we talked and I eventually committed in October [of] my senior year.
TCV: How did you end up choosing Conn?
KR: I was late to the process so a lot of the coaches I had reached out to already had their teams full, so I knocked a lot of teams off the list. I still had a few schools narrowed down but they were not very good academically. When my friends told me to reach out to Conn, I ended up getting along really well with Coach Josh and he offered me a spot pretty quickly. I just really liked the high level of academics here because I wanted to challenge myself both on the court and in the classroom. I didn’t know a lot about the school and I had never been to the east coast, this was actually the only school in the east coast I was looking at, so it was super random but I’m happy I ended up choosing here and I love it.
TCV: As a three-year member of the volleyball program at Conn how has the team changed over the years and do you have any particular highlights?
KR: My freshman year, the team was coming back from COVID and we were really excited to be playing again. The season before COVID, the team didn’t win a single game so we had nothing to lose and ended up moving up five spots in the NESCAC and making the tournament. My sophomore year, we were expected to be really good as we only lost one senior and had a really strong freshman class coming in. But, we just fell apart and went back to the bottom. This summer, I worked really hard with [senior captain] Natasha [Shrivastava] and Coach Josh to try to restructure the program to help the team win more games. We’ve seen positive results so far this season as we beat Williams for the first time since 2012 and Bowdoin for the first time since 2014. I’m seeing a really bright future for the season ahead. The highlight was beating Williams because freshman and sophomore year that was kind of our downfall. After that game both seasons we fell apart so it was really fun beating them.
TCV: You mentioned that changes were made over the summer to help restructure the program, what were these changes?
KR: The changes were kind of all mental changes. I think going into the season, we all had to have strict goals. So we started by coming up with three words to structure our program: fight, focus, and selflessness. So we revolve every practice around these three words. After every practice we do self check-ins to see if every player on the team lived up to these goals. We have a player of the day who gets an award for having shown these traits most at practice. These three traits that we brought in have helped us become more confident. We also have a goal of being top four in the NESCAC this year so everyday in practice we talk about what we can do to get top four. When someone is not focused in practice, we ask: is that top four behavior and we will figure out what we can change. Last year, our main downfall was confidence. We felt like we didn’t deserve to be in the top four of the NESCAC so every game we went into we kind of felt ok losing because we were already at the bottom. But this year we have a different mindset of feeling we are good enough to be at the top, so let’s work to get up there. We push ourselves hard in practice but also make sure everyone feels like they deserve to be here. I think holding everyone more accountable than in the past has helped. Also, we lost nine people from last season so the people here right now are the people who really want to be here, which creates a close community.
TCV: As an outside-hitter, what is your role on the team?
KR: I am the person who spikes the ball over the net. Typically you try to run plays through the middle hitter, so they give me the ball if it’s not as good of a pass. I have to be consistent because they give me the pass if it’s a crazy play. So with being consistent, I have to keep really high energy and stay positive and I can’t get down on myself because that radiates to the rest of the team. Outside hitters are the one position that has to play on the back and front row. so I have to be loud, calling the ball and calling the plays. I have to have a good connection with the libero, so we know who goes for what ball and I also have to have a good connection with setters, so they know where to set the ball for me. Usually they have big blockers on the outside so I have to hit around them. It’s a lot of pressure honestly.
TCV: Have you always played as an outside-hitter in volleyball?
KR: When I started in middle school I was thrown to the right side, because I feel like when you’re starting the right side is just a position you throw the extra players in because the setters are not as strong [on the right]. So I really wanted to play outside because that’s where most of the good players played. In high school, I finally got to play outside as a freshman. When I got moved up to varsity, I got thrown back on the right because I was not the strongest. I got to play outside once I got stronger. The outside is the only position where you can pass and hit, so I’ve worked a lot on this so I can be more consistent with my passing.
TCV: You became the first Conn player since 2016 to win NESCAC Volleyball Player of the Week. Were you expecting to receive this honor?
KR: Honestly, going into the season this was my goal to win player of the week. I didn’t realize that it’s been so long since someone [from Conn] won it. Every week I would look and see that this girl won and I would want to win it so bad. My dad would tell me that this would maybe be my week. But I didn’t really think that I would win it because it was such a stretch. Sunday night my dad told me this could be my week, my stats are really good and the team was undefeated. When our coach found out after practice, he called a team meeting and we all freaked out because we thought we did something bad. So we all prepared what we were going to say to him and who was going to talk. We all sat down and [our] coach told us our hard work has been paying off and so on before suddenly saying Katherine player of the week. I started sobbing because I did not expect it and I was so so excited because this is what I’ve been working for for so long and I finally got it. So it was exciting to see I finally got noticed because I haven’t really been rewarded for my hard work ever through an actual award.
TCV: You mentioned your father’s encouragement for your goal of getting player of the week, how has your family supported you in your athletic career?
KR: Well usually my dad would always coach my brother on his baseball teams, so they didn’t have a huge role on my sports teams. They would watch me play but they never were the loud parents on the bench and let me do whatever I wanted to do. My dad never came to my games in high school because of baseball, so he didn’t really know a lot about volleyball. But, once I started playing in college, he was really excited so now he knows everything that’s going on. He flys out almost every single weekend to watch my games and honestly, now [my parents] hype me up so much. My dad is always looking at the stats. He doesn’t tell me what I should’ve done but instead, it’s always positive encouragement like what can you do to be better and what can you do to work harder. Some parents get made when their kids don’t play but he understands the coach’s view on everything so he’s always just pushing me to get better.
TCV: Your team recently won five games in a row, including two NESCAC conference victories over Bowdoin and an unbeaten Williams team. Could you describe how this happened and what this experience was like?
KR: It was really fun. We’ve never had a five winning stretch in the time I’ve been here. I think we all just really wanted it and knew we had to do whatever it takes to do it. All the returners knew how important beating Williams was and we just are trying to capitalize on every team’s weakness. Volleyball is a super mental game so if you get in [the other team’s heads] you can beat pretty much everyone. For example, everyone who we played [in the NESCAC] also plays Bowdoin on the same weekend so we know that they’ve been traveling for a long time while we’ve been at home. Once we started winning we didn’t want to lose, so we did everything it took to win. The out of conference games are easier because the teams aren’t as strong, so we use them as practice for NESCACs. No matter how bad the team’s are we have to treat it like it’s a NESCAC game and we can’t let up. We try to keep the mindset of treating every game like it’s a NESCAC game so we know how we need to play. In the past we would take every game as oh this teams bad and we should win and it ended up being a close game.
TCV: The Conn volleyball team has already surpassed last season’s record and conference win total. How has the team performed better this season compared to last?
KR: Last year I feel like every team we played was beatable, we just fell apart as a team. We would be winning for most of the game, but once we got to 18 points, it felt like we would let them win. We would fall apart and that happened every game, which was so frustrating. We would be playing so well every game and then we would just let up. This year once we make it to 18 [points] we have had a change in mindset to let’s just win it. So for example, we crushed Williams in the fourth set by over 10 points, which would not have happened last year. We’ve just kept fighting for every point and used it as motivation to keep going, that’s the main difference and that’s why we keep winning.
TCV: What would you say are your hopes for the season going forward?
KR: I want to win more NESCAC games and make it to the [NESCAC] tournament for sure. Every single NESCAC game this weekend was an upset, so I think we can beat anyone. We can beat pretty much any team and we just have to remember that we can win any game if we come out and bring our best. Personally, I want to keep working really hard and keep improving my stats. I only have a season and half left which is really sad and scary. I want to win player of the week again and make an all-NESCAC team.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Please reach out to The College Voice (thecollegevoice@gmail.com or @the_collegevoice on Instagram) if you would like to nominate an athlete for the next edition!
